But what happens once you’ve cut the lattes, canceled the gym membership and are still burning a hole in your checking account each month? At that point it may be time to pull out the big guns — time to get extreme.

Below are seven out-of-the-box ways to save big. These go beyond the frugal tips that save you pennies. I’m not going to tell you how to save soap shavings or make cloth toilet paper. No, these are ways to seriously cut your spending, but they may require you to dramatically change your lifestyle.

They’re not for everyone, but they are something to consider if you’re ready to get extreme.

1. Move to a tiny house – really tiny

Imagine your whole family squeezed into a home the size of your living room. It may sound crazy, but the tiny house movement can be the ticket to big savings.

Tiny houses typically run from 250 to 600 square feet, and they may be permanent or mobile. It may seem unrealistic to pack four people into such a small space, but some families do it – and quite happily too.

Small houses mean small bills. Plus, with minimal storage space, you may find you are forced to stop spending money on stuff you don’t need.

Less extreme options: If a tiny house isn’t for you, you could still cut your bills by moving to a smaller home. It costs a whole lot less to heat 1,000 square feet than it does to keep 2,500 square feet warm and toasty. Another option may be to move to an apartment. Sure, you’re not building equity, but you’re also eliminating all of your maintenance costs and possibly some utility bills too.

2. Embrace your neighbors with communal living

Another way to cut down your living expenses may be to live in a commune, or intentional community, as they are now often called.

These living arrangements can vary significantly from community to community but most involve shared work and shared expenses. In addition, many of these communities are based upon values such as conservation or voluntary simplicity.

Less extreme options: Rather than moving to a commune, you could embrace communal living in your own home by renting out a room. A step above that may be buying a duplex or similar property to share with a friend’s family.

3. Park the car permanently

You can save some serious money by selling your vehicle and relying on your feet, bicycle or public transportation instead. If you need a car for a longer trip, rent one through Zipcar, Getaround or Hertz 24/7.

When you’re downsizing from your McMansion, look for a home in an affordable metro area with plenty of public transportation options.

Less extreme options: If you can’t bear to be without a vehicle, at least drive it less. Carpool whenever possible and combine errands. You could also go in with a neighbor or friend and buy a car you could both share.

4. Find your own heating fuel

Pity the people who use heating oil for fuel. The price per gallon has jumped from about $1.50 a decade ago to nearly $4.25 today. The cost of propane is only slightly better.

The cheapest way to replace costly heating oil and propane may be to install a wood-burning stove. If you have trees on your property, cut your own wood for free heating. If not, you might need to spend a couple hundred a year to buy wood.

However, please be sure any stove is installed by a professional and inspected each year before use. Install carbon monoxide detectors too. Dying from an improperly vented stove may be one extreme way to save money, but we would prefer our Money Talks News readers stick around to enjoy more great articles for years to come.

Less extreme options: While a little more expensive than a wood-burning stove, a pellet stove is another inexpensive heating option. If you have a little money stored up in savings, you might want to see about converting to natural gas too. That might cost a bit upfront but will save money in the long run. If you already have natural gas or none of these options will work, you can try the conventional advice of installing a programmable thermostat and lowering the temperature at night and when the house is empty during the day.

5. Unplug and live like it was 1949

We love our electronic toys, but using them costs us a pretty penny.

Cutting cable seems to be fairly standard money-saving advice. More extreme might be to not only cut cable but eliminate the Internet and mobile phones altogether.

Unless you have a legitimate need to have the Internet or a smartphone for work, you could probably get by with checking your email once or twice a week at the library. As for your cellphone, you probably don’t need to be accessible 24/7, right? Try carrying a prepaid phone for emergencies and then only use it for, well, emergencies.

6. Let the animals live and go veggie

Although inflation-adjusted prices for meat are lower now than they were 30 years ago, beef takes a bite out of many grocery budgets. According to an NPR report, we spend about a fifth of our grocery budget on meat.

With prices expected to climb in the coming year, extreme savers might want to eliminate meat altogether from their diet. Of course, vegetarian diets can be expensive too if you’re buying out of season or loading up on specialty products.

Read this article for tips on keeping your vegetarian diet spending to a minimum.

Less extreme options: Maybe you aren’t ready to give up meat completely. You could always have one or two meatless days a week or buy cheaper cuts to keep your costs down. We have a whole article dedicated to reducing meat costs.

Although it’s a popular, albeit extreme, way to score free stuff, I have a hard time recommending it. The law can be a bit hazy about the legality of dumpster diving, particularly when the trash is located on private property and not on the curbside.

Less extreme options: Instead of dumpster diving, you could try Freecycle to find freebies in your area. Also, send out the word to family and friends that you are on the hunt for reclaimed items, and you may find you are the first person they call before sending their unwanted goods to the curb.

What other extreme money-saving strategies have you heard about? Share your tips in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

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Comments & discussion

We welcome your opinions, but let’s keep it civil. Like many businesses, we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. In our case, that means those who communicate by name-calling, racism, using words designed to hurt others or generally acting like an uninformed bully. Also, comments that include links to email addresses or commercial websites typically aren't posted. This isn't a place to advertise your business.

I.Popoff

Six years ago I dropped garbage service which was costing $18/month. Instead I put food scraps in the compost pile, except for bones and meat scraps which I store temporarily in a bag in the freezer. When I run an errand I toss the bag of frozen stuff in a public trash can. I take along recyclable cans, bottles, paper and plastic, and drop those in public recycle bins. Anything else is saved for a trip to the landfill, or if a friend has room in her trash container I drop it there.

Jcatz4

It’s probably not legal for you to toss the bag of frozen stuff in a public trash can. And it might not even be legal for you to save up recyclable items to drop in public recycle bins – unless that is what they are there for. I live in SJersey and my small town has trash pickup weekly (no separation of trash and garbage) and we also have recycling every other week. Of course, all of that is probably incorporated in to the property taxes that I pay.

I.Popoff

Actually I put the gallon ziplock bag of frozen bones etc. in Walmart’s trash can. It’s only fitting because that’s where I shop for groceries. I pay a $40 solid waste fee on my annual property taxes which goes towards operating the county landfill. There are three large dumpster sized recycle containers on this side of town in various parking lots. They display no signage to indicate they are for public use but I found out about them on the county’s website.

Y2KJillian

Extreme…Dumpsters? Well…maybe a little too extreme for me to actually go through the insides, though I’m way not beyond picking things up from the outsides or curbs/garbage piles. Not-so-extreme? Garage sales, 2nd-hand stores…why buy new? Ironing…is it necessary? (Cost of electricity & the iron itself–I kept dropping mine on a cement floor and finally just quit the whole thing. I wear 2nd-hand wrinkled clothing; so what?) Craigslist is strong in Seattle…we got all “new” trim including crown molding for our entire house (including the insides of closets!) for free (plus a little elbow grease) as well as all the paint for our entire house inside and out (gather as much as possible and mix your own colors…sometimes you must compromise but that’s not too terribly extreme, is it?) so we painted our house for free, new trim and all…scrap wood, free pallets, etc. can serve as lumber (it IS lumber); you have no idea what people give away! Our current microwave was a free “gift” — an extra wedding microwave they simply didn’t need and wanted to pay it forward…to our advantage. My curtains are all 2nd-hand sheets (carefully selected colors and prints); my dogs (two pugs) are from a long line of self-bred puppies…I haven’t bought a dog in decades. When I need a new one, I used to do a careful, selected breeding and sell the extras to carefully selected homes, making money as well as paying all the vet bills and getting a new “free” purebred puppy out of it…sadly, though, now our girls are too old, have been spayed, and when they’re gone…well, we plan to travel for a while and then we’ll look to Seattle Pug Rescue for a “new” slightly used cheaper but still our preference of breed pet. It worked pretty well for us for years, though. We find we like being frugal.